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New York MagazineWashington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi sent “modest” nude photos to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which he then bragged about, according to two new reports.
The newspaper reported Thursday that Nuzzi, 31, had been placed on leave after revealing a “personal relationship” with “a former subject” connected to the election. Shortly after, reporter Oliver Darcy revealed that subject was RFK Jr., 70, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines.
Nuzzi apparently sent nude photos to the former independent presidential candidate, Puck News reported Friday. Kennedy later bragged to friends about receiving intimate photos from Nuzzi, The Daily Beast reported on Saturday. These boasts were eventually reported to his boss, New York Magazine Editor David Haskell.
The Independent reached out to Kennedy and Nuzzi for comment.
Haskell confronted Nuzzi on September 13 about the photos, telling him he had heard about Kennedy’s boasts from a source, according toThe Daily BeastNuzzi repeatedly denied the relationship before finally coming clean, according to the outlet.
On Friday, Nuzzi’s partner Ryan Lizza, a reporter at Policyreleased a statement calling Nuzzi his “ex-fiancée,” indicating that the couple had broken up. It is unclear exactly when the couple split.
“Because of my connection to this story through my ex-fiancée, my editors and I have agreed that I will not participate in any coverage of Kennedy in Playbook or anywhere else on POLITICO,” Lizza said.
Nuzzi and Lizza got engaged in September 2022, according to social media posts.
After New York MagazineFollowing Nuzzi’s announcement, Nuzzi released a statement denying that the relationship with RFK Jr. was physical.
“Earlier this year, the nature of certain communications between me and a former reporting subject became personal,” she said. “During that time, I did not directly report on the subject or use the person as a source.”
She added: “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to avoid any appearance of conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I disappointed, especially my colleagues in New York.”
A Kennedy spokesman said The New York Times that he had met Nuzzi “once in his life for an interview she had requested, which gave rise to a scandal article.”
The spokeswoman appeared to be referring to Nuzzi’s widely read profile of Kennedy, published in November 2023. In it, she wrote that she accompanied him on a hike with his dogs and drove a beat-up minivan. Her “personal relationship” with Kennedy spanned from December 2023 to August, she later revealed to New York Magazine.
In the past nine months, Nuzzi has also published a story about Democrats’ “conspiracy of silence to protect” then-candidate President Joe Biden and an interview with former President Donald Trump, who was a New York Magazinecover story earlier this month.
Each of those articles has since been updated with an editor’s note stating that all of Nuzzi’s stories for 2024 are under review. Haskell told the magazine’s staff Friday that the publication plans to hire an “independent third party” to review Nuzzi’s stories before making a final decision on his employment status.
Nuzzi is one of the New York Magazine‘s featured journalists. The 31-year-old was included in Forbes’ “30 Under 30 – Media” list in 2018 and is known for her candidate profiles and in-depth campaign reporting.
This isn’t the first time Nuzzi has been the subject of a report. In 2018, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski claimed she entered his home office without permission, but the reporter denied the allegations, saying she briefly entered the hallway of his home to try to interview him.
A year later, her story of texting with former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani went viral.
Nuzzi also appeared in the Showtime drama Billions in 2022 and recently released a documentary series called “Working Capital” with Bloomberg.
